Warriors

Warriors given Mullan boost for Saracens tie

WARRIORS expect Matt Mullan to have shaken off a knee injury in time to face Saracens a week tomorrow.

The England prop sustained the problem during training ahead of the LV= Cup 34-18 victory over Scarlets and won’t be involved at Wasps in the same competition this Sunday.

However, the injury is not thought to be too serious and the 25-year-old should be fit to feature when Worcester return to Aviva Premiership action at Sixways in eight days time.

Forwards coach Nigel Redman said: “Matt is not full-weight bearing (on the knee) but that’s more precautionary and we are looking at shorter rather than longer term. He won’t be playing this weekend but we will expect him back as soon as possible.”

With Saracens on the horizon, Redman is also remaining tight-lipped on how much the pack will be shuffled for the trip to Adams Park.

“At this moment in time there will be some changes but until we finalise the squad we can’t say too much of what that will be,” he said.

“It’s about allowing people the opportunity to shine and to put pressure right across the squad in every position.

“We can mix and match the players and really help the squad. It gives younger players like James Currie, Ben Howard and Andy Short opportunity to play on a bigger stage.”

He added: “We’ve also got a four-day turnaround and these games, whether it’s LV= Cup, Amlin, Heineken or Premiership, they are brutal, it’s big men going against big men, and a four-day turnaround is going to be challenging.”

n Wing David Lemi will captain Samoa against Wales at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Friday, while new signing Euan Murray has been named in the Scotland team to face South Africa at Murrayfield on Saturday.

The tighthead prop missed last Sunday’s 51-22 loss to New Zealand for religious reasons.